Your egg quantity is also known as your ovarian reserve. It’s not quite the same thing as egg quality. But when you have a good ovarian reserve, you most likely will have some good quality eggs in there too. You were born with millions of immature eggs. Most of the immature eggs will be housed… Read more »

As you may know, there is no one perfect test for egg quality. So we look at a host of different variables. One of the most helpful is your menstrual cycle. Each menstrual cycle is governed by the growth of a single egg. This is how it works: over the course of 10-14 days the… Read more »

Wondering what you can do to improve your egg quality? Here are some tips we share with our patients: Lifestyle When looking to egg quality, the first thing we suggest is that you consider lifestyle. To some degree, maximizing egg quality is predicated on maximizing your overall health, and the quickest and surest route for… Read more »

I’m 30 years old, have 28-32 day cycles and typically ovulate on days 16-18. My luteal phase is anywhere from 10-12 days. I’m doing IUI with frozen sperm and it is costing a fortune so I’m trying to get this right as soon as possible. The lowest-normal peak luteal progesterone level – measured about 7… Read more »

There is no universal “best” protocol. However, there may be a best one for you. You can run a natural start cycle, which simply means that you come in at the beginning of your menstrual cycle, say on day 3, and if there are no cysts, you start taking stimulating medication. This simple approach is… Read more »

AMH predicts quantity, not quality. The best predictor for egg quality is being under 35 years of age. Yes! Age is on your side. Anti Mullerian Hormone is released by cells involved with the growth of antral follicles and correlated to the number of active antral follicles you have. Usually with IVF, we hope to… Read more »

OHSS happens when ovaries become inflamed, sometimes because they’re stimulated with medications. To some degree, ovaries are always inflamed a little bit. But in some people, the inflammatory fluid becomes excessive. The fluid collects in the abdomen, making it very uncomfortable to breathe. Worse, that fluid shouldn’t be there. The end result is a real… Read more »

In 2004, the Canadian government passed The Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA). The legislation also established Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC), a Federal agency, which was to be responsible for licensing, inspecting, and enforcing activities controlled under the Act. The legislation itself addresses several areas of human genetic and reproductive technologies. The Act prohibits many… Read more »

If you’re over the age of 37, and your AMH is less than 2 pmol/L, your ovarian reserve will likely not support a reasonable attempt at IVF. IVF demands a relatively high number of eggs to be made available to the lab. The ideal number is between twelve and twenty. If numbers are going to… Read more »

There’s some microdegradation of DNA after only a few days. Microdegradation means DNA, or the proteins that support its structure, start to break down during the freezing process. How significant this is depends on the circumstances. When sperm are frozen, there are generally millions to spare. You can be confident that there will… Read more »

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